Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

San Francisco May Provide Sex-Change Benefit for City Workers

San Francisco is considering providing health care benefits to cover city workers undergoing sex-change procedures, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The Chronicle reports that the city's Health Service System Board "quietly" approved the benefit earlier this month, with final approval by the mayor and Board of Supervisors "expected." Under the benefit, sex-change operations would be capped at $50,000 per person for life. Patients would pay 15% of the expense if the surgery is performed by a physician in the city's health plan, but that percentage would increase to 50% for physicians not in the plan. The benefit would take effect July 1 and would cost an estimated $1.75 million in the first year. According to the Chronicle, no other city, county or state in the country provides such a benefit (Gordon, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/16).

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